Young entrepreneurs may get loan to start business

Young entrepreneurs could be offered Government loans to help them start up a business along similar lines to the loans which help fund students through university, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Mr Cameron described the idea – one of the proposals in November’s Control Shift report from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Media Pioneers campaign for young entrepreneurs – as “brilliant”.

Speaking to an audience of small businesses in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Mr Cameron said: “I think this is a brilliant idea and we are looking very closely at it.”

“We might be announcing something like this later on.”

At present, students can get loans of £9000-a-year for tuition fees and £7,675 for maintenance, with favourable interest rates.